Discovery of the \"New World\"

¶ … discovery of the "New World" came an increased need for European nations be competitive for resources. The concept of mercantilism that drove European political and economic understanding argued that there were limited resources and that power is granted to the class of individuals who can first recover this source of wealth. When French and English governments saw that the Spanish returned from America filled with reservoirs of precious metals and gold, they also wanted to be included in the wealth of discovery. Even as Columbus continued to comb the West Indies, both France and England sent explorative teams to the northern reaches of the American continent. Through their discoveries one of the most important early products from America was commoditized. By the time the Pilgrims of England stepped upon the shores of Plymouth Rock in 1620, the French explorer Etienne Brule had already skirted the shores of Lake Superior, becoming the first to explore the middle reaches of North America (Belden, 32). The development of the fur trade occurred organically and was one of the earliest and most important industries. It provided the essential pathways and connections for Native American relationships (Innis, preface). The fur industry played a major role in the development of United States and Canadian commerce for more than three hundred years.

At its initial inception, the fur trade began in the late 1500s as a method of exchange between Native Americans and Europeans. Although the practice was initially thought as an appeasement practice with the Indians, Europeans, and the French especially soon realized the potential profits in fur. They were able to trade Indians for valuable amounts of fur for only the exchange of basic tools and weapons. At the time, beaver fur was especially profitable within the European market; the French were the first to realize that the trade in fur would be just as lucrative as possible discoveries of gold and other rare materials. Beaver fur at the time was used for felt hats, and the fur trade in general as the majority of scarves and hats was made in animal fur (Innis, 5). In effect, the fur trade brought about a revolution in both a macro and micro economic terms. From a macroeconomic perspective it changed the demand within Europe, where the original focus was split between silk and other materials from the orients and traditional fur, the new abundance and ready supply provided through the fur trade encouraged Europeans to switch over to this alternative (Belden, 45). As a result, an entire industry was born as the direct consequence of the North American fur trade. At the same time, a strong microeconomic revolution was occurring in North America itself. The traditionally nomadic Native American population began to rely upon fur trading as a method for livelihood, and Europeans consequently started a vibrant trading partnership based upon fur trading outposts. Entire communities soon began to be built around the founding principle of fur trading. The French more than any other European group dominated fur trading, especially within Canada and Middle America (Belden, 51). They developed strong relationships with Native American tribes throughout the Great Lakes region and built communities and a complex transportation system for the distribution of fur trade.

The fur trade finally died out in the mid-1800's as the overabundance of poaching led to the scarcity of fur bearing animals in North America. Yet in the intermediate three hundred years, the fur trade dramatically changed the livelihoods, cultures and the entire direction of people in many different cultures (Innis, preface). The following analysis will examine the impact of the French fur trade and its implicit affect on the culture and geographic system of North America.

The earliest fur traders in North America were French explorers and fisherman in the far reaches of Eastern Canada in the early 1500's. These French explorers in their efforts to connect with the Native American population as well as capitalize on their new found relationships discovered the most profitable format of trade (Anderson, npg). They exchanged such items as kettles, knives and other gifts as a means to establish strong relationships. The mutual exchange of value created a greater surge of demand for such goods in Europe, and as a direct result of interest in Fur, further French exploration took place in the United States (Innis, 18). The demand for beaver was especially rampant throughout Europe, the French had already been the traditional providers of exotic furs for the rest of Europe and they saw the Native American network as an ideal addition to their expansion plans. The interest in fur expanded for beavers to fox, marten, mink and otter. The escalation consumer demand in Europe spurred French exploration and relationship building.

The impact of this increased demand was dramatic from both the perspective of the French exploration teams and the Native American population. For the French, the exploration of the New World was no longer a fascinating escape, but rather a serious economic institution. As a result, French explorers became much more entrepreneurial in nature. In 1608, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain became the first to establish a trading post on the present day city of Quebec (Innis, 40). Canada became the ideal centralized location for fur trading because the cold climate resulted in massive quantities of fur bearing creatures. Quebec became the center for the fur trade as it expanded along the St. Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes. French colonies in North America became centered around the fur trade, and their development and spread throughout the continent always surrounded river streams that would allow them send back furs collected throughout their expeditions (Innis, 42). The entire French community within North America centered around trading destinations, especially along the Mississippi River, as a result, French presence led to their ownership and exploration of the majority of the Great Plains and the Midwest.

From a geographical perspective, the French fur trade also dramatically changed the Native American demographic and social focus as well. Their access to previously unattainable goods as a result of trade led Native Americans to slowly begin depending upon the fur trade as a mechanism of survival (Rich, npg). Traditionally strong nomadic tribes became rooted in certain locations in order to provide permanency in their trading relationships. A complex social and economic system evolved from the fur trade. Indian tribes such as the Huron and Ottawa tribes became what were known as "intermediates." They took on the role of being domesticated tribesman who rooted themselves in certain locations. They became the intermediaries between the French and other tribes that had an overabundance of trappers (Rich, npg). The domestication of many intermediary tribes led to a changing cultural dynamic, as more Native Americans became assimilated into the society and culture of Europeans (Belden, 114). At the same time, the trading population of other tribes increased exponentially. Farming and nomadic tribesmen were cast aside for fur trappers, the trade heralded lucrative returns in European goods and weaponry that dramatically influenced the status of tribal warfare and culture as well.

The fur trade dramatically changed the social dynamics of Native Americans tribes and changed the geo-political relationships. While traditionally warfare between tribes was the basis of power within the Great Lakes region, fur trading and wealth emerged as the dominant drivers of status (Innis, 89). Those tribes that were able to obtain the most fur were then able to build strong relationships with the French. As a direct result they gained the enhanced European weaponry to gain dominance over their region. Through the fur trading system, tribal dominance became a matter of alliances with the Europeans and the reliance upon technology advantages in weaponry (Innis, 91).

The Iroquois tribe of the Great Lakes region rose into supreme power as a result of the fur trade; they gained the advantage of modern weaponry and were able to unite the tribes like no other force before them.

Although the French were the first to populate the concept of fur trading, they were not the only players. The influence of their success and the wealth they generated led to English settlers resorting to similar economic strategies. Settlers developed a fur trade in what is now New England and Virginia. They formed alliances with the Iroquois and soon began to compete directly with the French. The fur trade became a strong area of contention and competition between the English and the French (Anderson, npg). Much of the animosity that was developed in the colonies against the French resulted in mutual border disputes on known trapping areas. However, despite the national level tensions between the English and the French, the effect on the colonial population was minimal. In fact, the fur trade had a strong impact on relationship building between French traders and English merchants (Rich, npg). While French traders were the facilitators of the trade, as they controlled routes along the Mississippi, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, they lacked the formal business acumen and connections developed by English settlers. As a result, the majority of European business companies that handled the large number of fur trades were English. The largest of such firms was the Hudson's Bay Company established in 1670 (Belden, 82). This institution was the center of North American fur trading for more than two hundred years. It was founded by two French fur traders English merchant. The English government granted the company sole trading rights within the Hudson Bay region. The development of the fur trade resulted in a greater integration between traders and merchants, and created an entire social system based upon this concept.

The French dominance of the marketplace meant that other European players wanted to gain momentum within the industry. British Merchants founded the North West Company in Montreal in order to compete with the stranglehold of Canadian fur trading (Innis, 154). By the late 1700's, fur became a much harder commodity to find because of the over trapping that was occurring all throughout North America. Therefore, the British as well as Russians capitalized on the breakdown and drying up of traditional French controlled trading routes. They led many daring expedition deep into Western Canada in search of fur, but were unable to sustain strong financial returns. At the same time, the Russians began to develop their own fur trading system in the Alaskan area; they formed the Russian-American Company in 1799 (Anderson, npg). Although the competition from other European countries was fierce, for about two hundred years the majority of fur trading was dominated by the French.

This did not mean that tension and conflict was not an inherent impact of the French fur trade. In fact, conflict arose not only between the French and English, but also among Native American tribes that competed for access and trading rights to the Europeans. The French and British fur traders competed bitterly over trading rights throughout the Allegheny Mountains region as well as the Mississippi river region. The French and Indian War of 1754 was the direct result of conflicts between the two nations as well as regional disputes over fur trading rights (Anderson, npg). The conflict resulted in a British victory in 1763 and led to the British takeover of France's colonial empire in North America. The French and Indian War had its catalyst in the expansion of British fur trading along the Mississippi. The war revealed several cultural dynamics that resulted from the fur trade. First, the French were able to ally themselves with the Indians of the Great Plains and utilize their resources and knowledge of the land to combat the larger British land forces. The French also had control of strategic waterways that allowed them greater access to mobile resources and the use of strategic "raiding strategies" rather than direct confrontations to fight the British (Belden, 141-142). If not for the vastly superior resources and manpower available for the British colonials, the French would no doubt have been victorious. The fur trade tied the Indian population to french fur traders and outposts; they used their stranglehold upon fur trading as a mechanism to bring aboard Indians as their allies. Therefore, the catalyst as well as the alliances formed throughout this important colonial war was directly the result of the expanding fur trade.

Warfare between the Native American population was also extremely fierce, as the fur trade created a new style economy for the Great Plains region, the competition for hunting grounds became competitive among differing tribes. While at the beginning of Colonial expansion there were more than six hundred different tribes within the plains region and the eastern boarder of the United States, by the end of the 18th century, there remained only a couple of dozen tribes, with three or four major tribes as the focal point. The reason for this centralization was two fold, the geographical expansion of the colonials resulted in a land grab and constant warfare between the British and Native Americans. Thus, colonists were directly responsible for the death and destruction of many Native American tribes (Anderson, npg). As the colonial population expanded farther and farther west of their original colonial destinations, they wiped out traditional tribal grounds. Another major reason was economic, the result of domestication within the Native American population resulted in less need for a farming and land-based tribes, thus they began to clutter in distinct regions that ultimately resulted in the assimilation of tribes. Constant warfare and conflict resulting from fur trapping regions

At the end of the French and Indian war, the French presence in the United States region diminished substantially. Although they had built up a very strong network of fur trading outposts as well as colonial settlements to facilitate exporting of goods, these operations became inaccessible as a result of the war. The British were able to take advantage of the infrastructure of the French fur trading system and utilize their own knowledge to expand upon their model. The Lewis and Clark expeditions to the Pacific Ocean opened up another level of fur trading in the West (Anderson, npg). The expansion of the fur trade at this point had integrated completely into the mainstream culture and economy of colonial regions. As a result, the French and British no longer had to rely upon Native Americans to be their trappers, many companies hired frontiersman known as "mountain men" to obtain pelts.